Making animated plots
Limor Raviv
12 April
How to make beautiful animated plots using gganimate and tweenr
This code is for creating plots that build up over time (i.e., the x-axis)
library(ggplot2)
library(gganimate)
library(animation)
library(tweenr)First, load your data.
You data should include at least 4 coloumns:
A variable of interest (e.g., accuracy scores), which will be the y-axis
A variable representing time (e.g., trial number), which will be the x-axis
A varaible representing individual data points (e.g., participant number)
A variable representing condition to which individuals are assigned (e.g., male vs. female)
data <- read.csv("animated_plot_data.csv")
head(data,30) # show the first 30 rows of the data frame## Trial.Number Participant Condition Accuracy
## 1 1 7 Female 11
## 2 2 7 Female 46
## 3 3 7 Female 59
## 4 4 7 Female 57
## 5 5 7 Female 64
## 6 6 7 Female 59
## 7 7 7 Female 65
## 8 8 7 Female 67
## 9 9 7 Female 73
## 10 10 7 Female 69
## 11 11 7 Female 68
## 12 12 7 Female 76
## 13 13 7 Female 82
## 14 14 7 Female 75
## 15 15 7 Female 71
## 16 16 7 Female 73
## 17 17 7 Female 73
## 18 1 8 Female 13
## 19 2 8 Female 16
## 20 3 8 Female 32
## 21 4 8 Female 39
## 22 5 8 Female 40
## 23 6 8 Female 46
## 24 7 8 Female 52
## 25 8 8 Female 47
## 26 9 8 Female 60
## 27 10 8 Female 49
## 28 11 8 Female 64
## 29 12 8 Female 58
## 30 13 8 Female 73Then, use the tweenr package to make a smooth transition between each time point.
The “tween_elements functions will create two additional coloums to your data frame:”.frame" (corresponding to the origina trial number) and “.group” (corresponding to the original participant number).
data$ease <- "linear" #add a coloumn to the data frame
data2<- tween_elements(data, 'Trial.Number', 'Participant', 'ease', nframes = 100) # create 100 frames between each trial number
head(data2,30) # show the first 30 rows of the data frame## Trial.Number Condition Accuracy .frame .group
## 304 1.000000 Female 17.000000 0 10
## 405 1.000000 Female 2.000000 0 11
## 506 1.000000 Female 7.000000 0 12
## 607 1.000000 Male 11.000000 0 13
## 708 1.000000 Male 34.000000 0 14
## 809 1.000000 Male 11.000000 0 15
## 910 1.000000 Male 27.000000 0 16
## 1011 1.000000 Male 6.000000 0 17
## 1112 1.000000 Male 14.000000 0 18
## 1 1.000000 Female 11.000000 0 7
## 102 1.000000 Female 13.000000 0 8
## 203 1.000000 Female 6.000000 0 9
## 305 1.166667 Female 18.333333 1 10
## 406 1.166667 Female 3.000000 1 11
## 507 1.166667 Female 10.166667 1 12
## 608 1.166667 Male 13.500000 1 13
## 709 1.166667 Male 29.000000 1 14
## 810 1.166667 Male 11.333333 1 15
## 911 1.166667 Male 27.833333 1 16
## 1012 1.166667 Male 10.500000 1 17
## 1113 1.166667 Male 14.000000 1 18
## 2 1.166667 Female 16.833334 1 7
## 103 1.166667 Female 13.500000 1 8
## 204 1.166667 Female 7.166667 1 9
## 306 1.333333 Female 19.666667 2 10
## 407 1.333333 Female 4.000000 2 11
## 508 1.333333 Female 13.333334 2 12
## 609 1.333333 Male 16.000000 2 13
## 710 1.333333 Male 24.000000 2 14
## 811 1.333333 Male 11.666667 2 15Now, we’ll create our wanted plot using ggplot.
plot<- ggplot(data=data2, aes(x = Trial.Number, y = Accuracy, group=.group, color=Condition, frame=.frame, cumulative=TRUE))+
geom_line(lwd=1, alpha=0.8)+ #change line trasparency with alpha = x
scale_x_continuous("Trial Number", breaks=c(1:17))+
scale_y_continuous("Accuracy")+
theme_classic()+
theme(text = element_text(size = 25), axis.text.x = element_text(size=20), legend.position=c(.8,.2))And finally, let’s animate the plot and save it!
# change the speed of the animation by chanding interval = x
gganimate(plot, interval = 0.05)## geom_path: Each group consists of only one observation. Do you need to
## adjust the group aesthetic?
# remove the title by frame by adding title_frame = FALSE
gganimate(plot, title_frame = FALSE,filename="animated_plot.gif",ani.height=500, ani.width=700, interval = 0.05) # save as gif## geom_path: Each group consists of only one observation. Do you need to
## adjust the group aesthetic?## Output at: animated_plot.gif